The invention relates to harvesting equipment, and more specifically to a self-propelled combine harvester having asymmetric transition housings.
German Patents DE 36 01 359 C2 and DE 20 00 605 A1 describe self-propelled combine harvesters having a front crop attachment with a feed rake to harvest crop. The harvested crop is then passed through an axial-flow type threshing and/or dividing device having two threshing and/or dividing housings incorporating guide elements in both the vertical and horizontal direction with symmetrically mounted rollers and a matching inlet and outlet associated therewith. This construction is problematic because the maximum possible diameter of the dividing housing is limited due to limited amounts of available space and/or because of the support members.
These combine harvesters have certain vertical and horizontal spatial dimensions that cannot be exceeded. These limitations lead to the dividing housings being spaced both from one another and also from the lateral boundaries of the body of the machine. To transfer crop from the tangential threshing mechanism to the two dividing housings, a transfer drum having guide elements is used to transfer the crop stream to the axial dividing housings.
In practice, however, it has become apparent that the transfer of the crop or the acquisition thereof by the dividing rotors does not function properly under all harvesting conditions. For example, newer combine harvesters have greater throughputs that cause the unsatisfactory functioning. The abrupt change in the crop stream direction directly prior to entry into the two dividing housings, both in the central region and the two side regions thereof are the reason for this unsatisfactory functioning.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
An aspect of the invention is to provide a combine harvester having asymmetrical transition housings for improving the transfer of harvested crop from a tangential threshing device to an axial dividing device incorporating two mutually parallel dividing housings in a satisfactory manner.
Another aspect of this invention is to provide a combine harvester having two asymmetrical transition housings, wherein the asymmetrical transition housings expand vertically and horizontally.
In still another aspect of this invention there is a combine harvester having two asymmetrical transition housings, wherein the two asymmetrical transition housings expand vertically and horizontally taken with reference to the rotational axis of the dividing rotors, and wherein a common frontal dividing wedge is associated with the two asymmetrical transition housings to facilitate the crop stream and to eliminate the abrupt changes in directions of said crop stream.
In still another aspect of this invention there is a combine harvester having two asymmetrical transition housings, wherein the asymmetrical transition housings expand vertically and horizontally taken with reference to the rotational axis of the dividing rotors, and wherein a common frontal dividing wedge is associated with the two asymmetrical transition housings to supply crop to the dividing rotors such that the crop is uniformly distributed around the periphery due to the asymmetric widening of the two asymmetrical transition housings.
These aspects are not meant to be all encompassing, but are merely a sampling of the numerous aspects and features of this invention.